So on Saturday morning my oldest son Nathanial (he’s five) and I (a bit older then five) went out to buy our Christmas tree. I thought I would give him the great responsibility of picking out the Christmas tree this year. Well, he picked the biggest tree we have ever had. It isn’t just a little bigger but it is gigantic – it’s HUGE. He is proud of it and I have to admit, although extremely large, it is a nice looking tree. I think from now on Nathanial is going to be our “tree selector extraordinaire.”

These days and for the next few weeks I’ll be living the “Viva Loca”(cue the Mariachi band) with school, committee and church stuff wrap up for the year. Things are exciting but it will be busy and no doubt stressful. I am looking forward to Christmas this year and just relaxing – or trying to anyway…

I just got back from Pastor’s Prayer Retreat and had a great time connecting with the rest of our church’s staff as well as my friends who pastor from other churches. The most enjoyable times at those things are the meals and even the times when I step out of the main sessions and have a good, hilarious and meaningful conversation with like-minded friends.In our trip we also connected with our good friends Derek and Cicilia and we loved it – hanging out at the Keg and laughing and just enjoying friends you can be completely real with. They are awesome!!!

This last weekend was my friend Mike’s last day as Pastor of Youth Ministries at our Church. I am saddened because I know they are moving and will miss watching “guy” movies (movies our wives won’t watch) together, chatting about heart issues and meaningless issues (including what happened the night before on “The Daily Show”) and working on ministry stuff together. This last weekend was especially fitting and sad as I preached and Mike wrote and played a song based on the message. My hope and prayer for him is that God will use these next few years as he goes back to school to sharpen his skills and soften his heart. Anyways, Mike, if you read this, you are a great friend and gifted pastor and our family will miss your family very much – God’s speed.

It has been a while since I have blogged and I wanted to start again by writing something about a conference I was at two weeks ago: The 2005 Canaada Conference. I attended this conference as a community leader (I am co-chair of a Parent Advisory Committee) rather than as a religious leader (clergy). It was an incredible experience to sit with and next to people that I don’t normal rub shoulders with (I sat next to an International Trade Relations expert, a Canadian water expert, a Canadian Historian, was in ear shot of Premier Ralph Klein, etc). It was very informative to learn about the issues facing Canada’s future including immigration, aboriginal issues, and fresh water (environment). I was most shocked to learn about the dismal state of fresh water in Canada and how much of that environmental problem is going to play into our future as a country.

But that all leads me to an observation I want to make and feel I am in a unique position to make it. Being in church leadership for about 9 years and active and somewhat informed in the area of Postmodernity when it comes to the church, I was shocked to hear the similarities between the dialogue of my generation at this non-religious conference speaking to the current (modern) generation of leadership and that of a church leadership conference. I heard young leaders (18-35) continually calling on older leaders to be more authentic, honest, and genuine. I was shocked but to be honest also saddened, it seems to me that when it comes to the non-religious world of “modern” leadership, they seemed to be entering into dialogue about it with emerging leaders and moving forward acknowledging the need for change and even renewal.